Can Our Body Suffer After A Long Space Walk?

December 6, 2017

NASA’s Astronaut Scott Kelly talks about his body changes during his stay on International Space Station.

After spending 340 consecutive days onboard the International Space Station, astronaut Scott Kelly returned to Earth on March 1, 2016, becoming the first American to spend almost a year in space.

The “Expedition 46 mission” commander’s changes were visible: he was taller, his face showing signs of irradiation, and exhaustion in his gaze.

“When I left Soyuz … I was’t looking really bad, but that’s just because I’m a very good actor. I think I should be nominated for an Oscar,” said Scott Kelly at NASA Centre in Washington.

However, Kelly said in his book “Endurance: A Year in Space. A lifetime of discovery ” that the 340 days space-walk on the Earth’s orbit affected him both physically and emotionally.

Scott Kelly aboard ISS. Credit: nasa.gov

The 53-year-old astronaut confesses the risk of cancer has increased considerably.

“More problematic was the fact that I started to have sight problems, like the majority of astronauts in previous missions.” I was exposed to radiation 30 times stronger than those on Earth, as if I had made 10 radiographs of the chest daily. The risk of cancer will increase throughout life, “said the astronaut.

“What I’m most concerned about are the pains in the legs, from the point of view of the quality of life, it’s the worst change.” I had a slight structural change in my eyes, I lost a bit of bone mass, but not too much. Somehow redistributed into the body, the fingers are now slightly bent inward, I think because of the way the bones move, it’s pretty weird,” he added.

Having managed to sleep only for a few hours, feeling very sick, with dizziness, nausea and fever, when he returned to Huston, he said he feels skin burns with rash and flu-like symptoms.

“I felt so bad that if I wasn’t coming from outer space I would have gone straight to the Emergency Hospital.”

Trending today

Make a donation

Whether you make a donation or buy a product from our store, you help us directly to keep the community alive.
Help us improve our quality of service and don’t forget: Thanks to people like you we can change the world for the better.

“What you see in your world is the outcome of your idea about it”- Neale Donald Walsch